http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-syph8dec08,1,5315637.story
December 8, 2004
Editorial
In the part-animated, part-live-action commercial, we see Phil the
Sore, who looks sort of like a lumpy red raspberry with hair, following
two men going into a house together. Later, the men part, one dressed
in a bathrobe and underwear. "Hey, we're in," Phil shouts, calling in a
pack of other raspberries carrying boxes with such labels as "rash,"
"blindness" and "brain damage" — all symptoms of syphilis.
Tacky, verging on offensive? Certainly, though less so than a lot of prime-time TV fare. That's why the refusal of five Los Angeles TV stations to air the anti-syphilis public service ad (some relented on late-night slots) seems another example of the self-censorship that broadcasters are imposing as the Federal Communications Commission cracks down on material it deems objectionable.